With less than a week until the midterm elections, tensions are running high in both parties. Joe Biden gave a speech yesterday condemning political violence and urging voters to “protect democracy.”
Protect Democracy
“We must with an overwhelming voice stand against political violence and voter intimidation, period,” Biden said. “Stand up and speak against it. We don’t settle our differences in America with a riot, a mob, or a bullet or a hammer. We settle them peacefully at the ballot box.”
Biden gave his speech at Union Station in Washington. He began his speech by addressing the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. “The assailant entered the home asking, ‘Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?’ Those are the very same words used by the mob when they stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, when they broke windows, kicked in the doors,” Biden said.
Biden continued on by denouncing the January 6th attackers, calling them a mob “whipped into a frenzy” by former President Donald Trump when he encouraged his party members to question the validity of the results of the 2020 election.
“American democracy is under attack because the defeated former president of the United States refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election,” Biden said. “He refuses to accept the will of the people, he refuses to accept the fact that he lost. There are candidates running for every level of office in America … who won’t commit to accepting the results of the elections that they’re running in. This is the path to chaos in America. It’s unprecedented. It’s unlawful. And it’s un-American.”
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Vote Tallies
Biden also addressed vote tallies, attempting to ease Election Day expectations by reminding the public that it can take a few days to finish the final tally. Upwards of 28 million people have chosen to vote early in the election.
“It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner,” he said.
Related: Joe Biden Hits Record High Approval Rating Thanks to This Surprising Demographic
The Countdown Begins
Biden gave his speech just 6 days before the November 8th elections. The races are tight this year, and Democrats are fighting to keep control of Congress. So far, polls are pointing to a Republican takeover, but Democrats aren’t ready to give up yet.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and even former President Barack Obama have hit the campaign trail to drum up enthusiasm among voters. “I appeal to all Americans, regardless of party, to meet this moment of national and generational importance,” Biden said. “We must vote, knowing what’s at stake and not just the policy of the moment.”
Democrats expected the most important voter issue to be reproductive rights, but Americans are more worried about kitchen-table issues, such as inflation, a looming recession, and the state of the economy as a whole.
“People are worried about disorder. And whenever there’s disorder — in this case in crime and economic news — they tend to vote for the opposition,” Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist, told ABC News.
Sheinkopf added that he does not believe Biden’s message about democracy being in danger will be enough to move the needle before the elections next week. “[Biden] has to show that he is a unifier at a time of great division, but is it really going to move voters?” Sheinkopf questioned.
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This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
